Just Say No…

Sorry, orange: It seems that red is the new black, judging by the outfits at the Red Party, an evening of fashion, music and technology to celebrate the restoration of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Raphael Room.

Maya Louisa, Reign Appinn and Simone Scazzocchio at the Red Party

Things started with cocktails and light bites in the new wing, where fashion designer Erin Robertson—in a daring head-to-mid-thigh vermilion ensemble—worked a loom, while her colleague Christian Restrepo showcased informal modeling of his designs. Performers included percussionist Billy Martin, electro-pop duo Breaking Forms, a ghostly player piano emitting classic ditties, and the Blue Heron Renaissance choir, whose ethereal and pitch-perfect singing filled the museum’s courtyard with a sound that more than one guest described as angelic.

Erin Robertson at the Red Party

However, the evening’s main attraction was the newly refurbished gallery and its restored red silk walls, which had guests “oohing” and “aahing” to beat the band. Present and accounted for: fashion plate Alli Achtmeyer and the dapper Bill, blond beauty Sarah Mars squired by incorrigible scamp Suhail Kwatra, good-ole boy Jackson McCard, gallery owner Olivia Ives-Flores with white-hot artists the Safarani twins, Bahareh and Farzaneh, brunette beauty Christine McCormick, Cantabrigians Rebecca and Paul Nemser, toothsome photographer Alipio Hernandez, bespectacled hipster Tyler Shannon, musical pair Shea Rose and Simone Scazzocchio, Newtonian party animals Sue Bear and Mike Hill, Back Bay peacock Devin Hill with the stunning Kinesha Goldson, dashing crooner Michael Ricca, Pill Hillions Coco and Kyra Montagu, design avatar Marty Dykas, and one otherwise well-dressed gentleman who sheepishly confessed, “Don’t tell anyone, but my pocket square is actually a sock.”

Nicole L’Hullier and Juan Necoche at the Red Party

When asked why she wasn’t wearing red, one woman indignantly replied, “Rubies count,” but the evening’s best exchange came when someone tried to explain the familial relationship between two guests. “You’d have to do math to figure that one out,” said another person, to which a third responded, “No. You’d have to do meth for that to make any sense.” ◆

Avez-vous dish? Dirt? A spectacular social occasion? Call J.S. at 617-859-1400, ext. 303, or send an email to jonathan@improper.com.